Day 1 in Paris, Before the Tour and La Boheme

We paid for an extra night at the hotel, so when we arrived mid morning we would be able to check in and not wait til 4 pm.  As we entered this small botigue hotel (had only 23 rooms) we had a little sitting area with a kitchen type area for the coffee machine.  The door to the bathroom is there on the left.

The hotel was historic and they tried to keep the feel in the decore.
The hotel is family owned along with 2 others that they refurbished.

The room was quite comfortable, and the staff was excellent.  We had 2 chairs.  The closet was roomy with ample space for hanging items as well as shelves.  Really much more then you often get in hotels in the states.

We were happy to check in, and take a nap before heading out to look around a bit.  We also had tickets for the Opera this night and needed some rest before hand.

The hotel called a taxi for us and suggested a place for an early dinner before the opera.  The Opera was La Boheme at the Bastille Opera House, which is the modern facility.

We would have preferred to attend the opera in the historic Opera House, The Garnier Theater, but apparently most of the performances are now held at the new facility.

The music was fabulous, but we didn't think much of the modern take on the Opera where the people are stranded in space.  We didn't feel like the story translated well.

Once the lights went out, we had a hard time staying awake, and perhaps we would have enjoyed the performance more if it hadn't been the day we got there with our jet lag.  It was the only night that would be possible for us to go though.  So theres that.

PLEASE leave me a comment when you come visit, so I know you were here. Your visits and comments are very special to me. AND remember, leave your name and url and not your profile link. Name and url takes me right to your blog post so I can reciprocate the visit.

France Here We Come!

 France the 6th go round!  France Magnifique through Collette is a trip with a history.  Hubby and I first scheduled this tour for the Fall of 2021.  Covid hit, it was postponed until The Spring of 2022, then again postponed until the fall of 2022.  As Covid was still a problem it was postponed yet again for the Spring of 2023; but things were not yet really safe........so it was scheduled for the Fall of 2023.  We did actually arrive in Paris a day early as we always like to give ourself a buffer due to travel and time to settle in due to jet lag.  

However, on the day we arrived; hubby came down with Covid.  So, we sat in our hotel room for 5 days for isolation and the tour went on without us.  We then had to scramble to find flights home, as our previously scheduled flight was slated for the end of tour.

Feeling like this tour was jinxed, I decided we could not book it again the next year in 2024.  We needed to take a different tour to break up the bad mojo.  We went to Sicily in the fall of 2024.

AND drum roll

Here's hubby in the airport lounge as we depart for Paris France to take the same Collette Tour, France Magnifique.  It's Billed as a 12 day tour, includes 16 meals.  10 Breakfasts, 1 Lunch, and 5 Dinners.  We  did our own airfair, so that's not included in the tour price, nor is the travel insurance that one really needs to get.  We did manage to get our funds back from the ill-fated attempt in the fall of 2023.

I rarely do selfies, because I'm not good at it; but here's one of me once we got on board our flight to France.  We did opt for business class seats which for a long flight, an overnight flight to Europe is certainly more comfortable.

Hubby took one of me, you can see the seating arrangement a bit more,

And I took one of hubby.  We scheduled 2 additional days at both the front and back end of this tour.  As we age, the travel seems a bit more tiring; so we wanted extra time.  And, we wanted to spend more time in Paris then the tour allotted.  

The tour has you fly in and out of Paris, but the tour actually starts in Versailles.  So we booked 2 nights in Paris on our own.  At this point we're still holding our breathe that we will get there and both remain healthy and get to actually take the scheduled tour.

We started our with our glass of Champagne and as we hit altitude the dinner preceding's began.  We both had a good meal with wine, watched a movie; then reclined our lay flat seats to get some sleep.  And while doing that is nice, you really only get a few hours because of the difference in time zones and they have to wake you for breakfast before landing.

PLEASE leave me a comment when you come visit, so I know you were here. Your visits and comments are very special to me. AND remember, leave your name and url and not your profile link. Name and url takes me right to your blog post so I can reciprocate the visit.

Day 1 Afternoon, Sept 26, 2024 Monreale Cathedral

Afternoon, still day 1 of our tour.  Our itinerary reads: This afternoon head to Monreale Cathedral, ascending on foot to see its majestic Byzantine mosaics.  Then, it's our choice!  Explore the cathedral's cloisters, taking in their serene atmosphere of the monastic complex - OR - ascend the southern tower to the panoramic terraces for a bird's -eye view over Palermo.

Once we were done with the guided tour, we could explore on our own.  This cathedral is considered to be the best example of Norman Architecture.  The building began in 1174 by William II of Sicily.

It was elevated to the Archdiocese of Monreale in 1183, and completed in 1267.  Since 2015 it's been part of the Arab-Norman Palermo and the Catholic churches of Cefalu' and Monreale UNESCO World Heritage Site.

There were two Sarcophagi, but I wasn't able to get a picture of the 2nd one. Both William the I and William II of Sicily are there.

It was quite colorful, with incredible detail everywhere you looked.

I opted for walking around the cloisters, while hubby climbed the southern tower.

Time to meet up with our traveling companions and board the coach to return to the hotel.  We were told no sleeveless tops, no shorts above the knee.  Our estimated time to arrive back at the hotel was 5:30 where we would have dinner on our own.

I tried to load the video hubby took of the birds eye view, but couldn't get blogger and the video to play nice.  Sorry folks.  Just a picture instead.

Day 2, Palermo, Sept 26-2024 Capo Market

Day 2 of the tour, Breakfast started at 7 am and we were to meet at 9:30 in the lobby to begin our walking tour:

Our itinerary reads: Begin your adventure tasting your way through Palermo's lively markets on a walking tour unveiling the city's historical center and introducing you to traditional  Sicilian street food, which layers Oriental and Norman influences with local produce such as wild fennel, olives, and spices. 

Our group of 24 was divided into 2 groups, one group of 12 and one of 10.  A couple of people opted out.  The 2nd group was lead by Francesca above, who was very cute and animated.  She was full of information and shared with us her childhood memories of the area, the food and the vendors.  Group 2 was a bit delayed departing due to some technical issues with Vbox.  Standing with Angelica is Vera and Joe from Australia.  Visiting Sicily was especially important to them as they both have family in Sicily.

We started with The Capo Market, which was very colorful and busy with lots of fresh vegetables, and fish and other goodies.

Here they were squeezing fresh juice

I don't know what dishes we were looking at, but everything looked colorful and fresh.

We sampled as we walked the market, stopping at several vendors as we listen to Francesca tell us about the history and food.  Wasn't able to get pictures of those stops, as our hands were busy eating.  Here we actually sat down.  On the left front to back is Don, Mike, Kathy, Joe, Vera.  Across from Vera is Steve, Susan, Lucille, I was beside Lucille and then Ernie.

She's showing us wild Fennel

Olives, that aren't edible as they've not been processed.

We had a meat pie of sorts, a potato...sorta like a pancake, grapes and other fruit.

Continuing our walk through the market you can see the variety of foods...naturally pasta.  I'm in the black on the right with a straw hat.

Taking pictures as we walk, you can see how crowded the market was, though we were told it's not as crowded as it used to be.

Lots of yummy goodies

Check out the huge cannoli!

While this isn't the best of pictures, you can see the longevity of this families business in the market.  Francesca remembered being here with her grandmother who knew the original owner.  It's still the same family.

By this time we had entered the 2nd market, but I don't remember the name.  There are 4 historical markets in Palermo: Capo, Ballaro, LaVucciria, and Borgo Vecchio.  We had 2 ladies in the group, Anne and Lynn who are quilters.  They really wanted to stop and see some of the fabric shops we passed, but we kept walking.  

A street alter.  They were beginning to prepare for a holiday festival and parade.

We stopped in a little bar to have some desert wine.  I'm not generally a fan of sweet/desert wine; but it was rather tasty and refreshing.

Walking on you see vendors grilling

You pass more goodies

Then we stopped for quick desert break and had delicious cannoli's.

Time to board our coach to return to the hotel.  Hubby liked that our coach was scarlet and gray, Ohio States colors, lol.  We'll have time to freshen up (30 ish minutes), then re-board the coach to make our way to Monreale Cathedral.

Since this post is heavy with pictures, the afternoon at Monreale Cathedral will be the next post.

PLEASE leave me a comment when you come visit, so I know you were here. Your visits and comments are very special to me. AND remember, leave your name and url and not your profile link. Name and url takes me right to your blog post so I can reciprocate the visit.